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Dusty Springfield
British singer (1939–1999)
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien, better known by her stage name Dusty Springfield, was an Irish English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano voice, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop, and dramatic ballads, with French chanson, country, and jazz also in her repertoire.
During her 1960s peak, she ranked among the most successful British performers on both sides of the Atlantic. Her image – marked by a peroxide blonde bouffant/beehive hairstyle, heavy makeup, evening gowns, and stylised, gestural performances – made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.
real name: Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien
labels: United Artists Records, Atlantic Records, ABC Records, Philips Records, Mercury Records, Phonogram International B.V., Parlophone, 20th Century Fox Records
genres: soul, rhythm and blues, pop music, blue-eyed soul
awards: Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
plays: voice
member of: The Springfields
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
popblue-eyed soulpop soulsoulbaroque popbritish
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Early life
Springfield was born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien on 16 April 1939 in West Hampstead, the second child of Gerard Anthony 'OB' O'Brien (1904–1979) and Catherine Anne 'Kay' O'Brien (née Ryle; 1900–1974), both Irish immigrants. Springfield's elder brother, Dionysius Patrick O'Brien (2 July 1934 – 27 July 2022) was later known as Tom Springfield. Her father grew up in British India and worked as a tax accountant and consultant. Her mother came from an Irish family originally from Tralee, County Kerry, that included a number of journalists.
After leaving school, Springfield sang with Tom, her brother, in local folk clubs. They acquired George Cassidy as tenor saxophonist during this period, and toured in Ireland. In 1957, the pair worked together at holiday camps. The next year, Springfield responded to an advertisement in The Stage to join The Lana Sisters, an "established sister act", with Iris "Riss" Long (also known as Riss Lana or Riss Chantelle) and Lynne Abrams (a.k.a. Lynne Lana), who were not actually sisters. Springfield adopted the stage name "Shann Lana" and "cut her hair, lost the glasses, experimented with makeup (and) fashion", becoming one of the "sisters".
Dusty Springfield released her first solo single, "I Only Want to Be with You", co-written and arranged by Ivor Raymonde, in November 1963. The record was produced by Johnny Franz in a manner similar to Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound"; it included rhythm-and-blues features like horn sections, backing singers, and double-tracked vocals along with strings, recalling Springfield's influences such as the Exciters and the Shirelles. In January 1964, the single peaked at no. 4 on the UK charts during a lengthy (for the time) 18-week run. In December 1963, New York disc jockey "Dandy" Dan Daniel of WMCA nominated the single as a "Sure Shot" pick of records not yet charted, preceding Beatlemania. The single debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 on the...
Influenced by US pop music, Dusty Springfield created a distinctive blue-eyed soul sound. BBC News noted "[h]er soulful voice, at once strident and vulnerable, set her apart from her contemporaries... She was equally at home singing Broadway standards, blues, country or even techno-pop". Allmusic's Jason Ankeny described her:[T]he finest white soul singer of her era, a performer of remarkable emotional resonance whose body of work spans the decades and their attendant musical transformations with a consistency and purity unmatched by any of her contemporaries; though a camp icon of glamorous excess in her towering beehive hairdo and panda-eye black mascara, the sultry intimacy and heartbreaking urgency of [her] voice transcended image and...
Born: April 16, 1939 in Hampstead, London, UK, died: March 02, 1999 in Henley, Oxfordshire, UK.
Influential British singer who began her career with The Lana Sisters, later The Springfields in the early 60's before going solo.
She achieved a long string of successful albums and singles through most of the 1960's, as well as having several variety series on BBC and ITV networks in the UK which she headlined during those years.
Her chart successes slowed in the 1970s, but she achieved a renaissance in the 1980's with the help of the Pet Shop Boys, with whom she recorded two hit records, including her hit duet with PSB, "What Have I Done To Deserve This?"
She was diagnosed with cancer after the recording of her final album, "A Very Fine Love". After treatment the cancer was briefly in remission, but eventually returned, and she died in March 1999, a few days after she had been awarded the Order of the British Empire. Later that same year, she was inducted as a performer into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Also known as: ...and Friend, D Springfield, D. Springfield, D.Springfield, Duky Spring Field
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
Dusty Springfield, the records, oldest first
Dusty
1964 album
A Girl Called Dusty
1964 album
Dusty
1964 ep
Stay Awhile / I Only Want to Be With You
1964 album
I Only Want to Be With You
1964 ep
Dusty in New York
1965 ep
Ooooooweeee!!!
1965 album
Demain tu peux changer
1965 ep
Ev’rything’s Coming Up Dusty
1965 album
You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me
1966 album
Where Am I Going?
1967 album
The Look of Love
1967 album
If You Go Away
1968 ep
Dusty… Definitely
1968 album
Dusty in Memphis
1969 album
Brand New Me
1970 album
See All Her Faces
1972 album
Cameo
1973 album
It Begins Again…
1978 album
Living Without Your Love
1978 album
White Heat
1982 album
Reputation
1990 album
A Very Fine Love
1995 album
Faithful
2015 album
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
1968 song recorded by British singer Dusty Springfield
"Son of a Preacher Man" is a song written and composed by American songwriters John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins and recorded by British singer Dusty Springfield in September 1968 for the album Dusty in Memphis.
Reception and legacy
Cash Box said that Springfield "shows a new soul" and that the song is "brim-full of the special southern-combo sound and a vocal strongly influenced by Aretha [Franklin]."
